National Lampoon’s Class Reunion

• Cert:
• Cat.no: PTDVD 1317
• Running time: 82 minutes
• Year: 1982
• Pressing: 2000
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 16 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Stereo)
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: None
• Fullscreen: 4:3
• 16:9-Enhanced: No
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 5
• Price: £12.99
• Extras: Photo Gallery

Director:

Michael Miller

(Always Remember I Love You, Everything to Gain, National Lampoon’s Class Reunion, Silent Rage and a load of Danielle Steel tosh)

Producer:

Screenplay:

Music:

Cast:

Bob Spinnaker: Gerrit Graham
Gary Nash: Fred McCarren
Bunny (Francine Packard): Miriam Flynn
Hubert Downs: Stephen Furst
Iris Augen: Marya Small
Meredith Modess: Shelley Smith
Delores Salk: Zane Buzby
Egon Von Stoker: Jim Staahl
Walter Baylor: Blackie Dammett
Mary Margaret Creamer: Wendy Goldman
Dr. Robert Young: Michael Lerner
Carl Clapton: Art Evans
Himself: Chuck Berry
‘Girl’ in dress with paper bag over head: John Hughes (uncredited)

After graduation in June, 1972, the class from Lizzie Borden High return ten years later for more lewd and crude behaviour in THAT film that opens with Walter (Blackie Dammett), the class wimp, being unknowingly wanked off by his sister in a pre-credits sequence, although the ‘sister’ is played, uncredited, by the film’s writer John Hughes (!)

With no big names to the cast, the only memorable student being “the fat one from St. Elsewhere”, but it includes class president Bob Spinnaker (Gerrit Graham) who was most likely to murder his wife for her money, class nobody Gary Nash (Fred McCarren), class prude Bunny (Miriam Flynn), class asshole Hubert Downs (Stephen Furst), class tragedy Iris Augen (Marya Small), class beauty Meredith Modess aka Fox (Shelley Smith), class cripple Delores Salk aka “Iron Legs” (Zane Buzby), class exchange student Egon Von Stoker (Jim Staahl) all the way over from Transylvania, the aforementioned class wimp Walter Baylor (Blackie Dammett) and class pump Mary Margaret Creamer (Wendy Goldman).

The problem with this class reunion comes when all the guests are being bumped off one by one and after what happened at the start, it’s not hard to work out the culprit. Michael Lerner arrives as Dr. Robert Young, who works in the psychiatry hospital keeping Walter at bay.

As has always been available on video, the DVD is also a 4:3 open-matte transfer, albeit a fairly clean one. The average bitrate is a steady 6.56Mb/s.

My amp (Sony STR-DB 930) registers the sound output as Dolby Digital 2.0, but if it is a Dolby Stereo soundmix then it’s a very mono-sounding one and there’s certainly nothing of interest coming from the rear speakers.

Extras : A Photo Gallery that contains 18 rather iffy nine pictures. There are 17 chapters, the 16-strong scene index missing out the opening company logo for ABC Motion Pictures, while the last one repeats the opening credits.

The main menu features Chuck Berry’s song, but is static.

I remember around 1989 when it was possible to buy a 5-pack of 3hr blank video tapes on which one would already contain one of a handful of films and I plumped for the one with this film on it. It’s a fair enough comedy to watch once, but does have a number of slow moments – even for an 82-minute film – and will not stand up well to repeated viewings.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL